Still the Maddest

J.A. Adande’s recent article comparing NCAA March Madness to NBA “March Madness” basically forced me to write my first article in a week and defend my beloved college basketball. It’s clear Adande has a considerable amount of bias coming into the article. Let’s be honest, the guy gets paid to cover the NBA, who wouldn’t want to defend the sport they get paid to watch and write about. I’ll give credit to Adande for recognizing the hype that March Madness brings and appreciating it. As he says, “I love filling out my brackets…love getting off a plane in March and seeing people crowd around the airport bar TV sets, with the sound of high-tops squeaking on the court coming from the speakers.” But Adande makes a few points that clearly show his bias to the NBA and I feel obliged to defend the most wonderful time of the sporting year. March belongs to college basketball, not the NBA.

Adande makes the point of saying that the storylines in the NBA are too important to wait until the playoffs. He says: “There’s too much on the line right now, when seeds can be gained or lost, pathways determined.” The story lines he refers to are the Rockets winning streak, the Lakers new “dynasty”, and the Celtics dominance in the East. For one, at this point in the season who really still cares about the Celtics dominance besides those who fill the seats at the TD Banknorth Garden every night? Granted its been fun to watch the resurgance of a team that had suffered in the few previous years, but they do have a lineup boasting stars such as KG, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen. How can a team with those three, plus the other lesser heralded players on the team (Rondo, and Glen Davis), not be dominant in the East? If the Celtics couldn’t win with a roster like that, they might as well join the Flint Tropics and try there luck in the ABA. And now that the Celtics have clinched a berth in the playoffs, who honestly cares about there regular season dominance anymore? No matter what, whether they lose out or win out, they will be in the playoffs. How can this storyline not wait until the playoffs? Won’t the playoffs be the time for the Celtics to show if they are truly back or not? The regular season shouldn’t matter for the Celts anymore- they should be focused on adding to the banners that hang for the rafters at the new Boston Garden. Same can be said for the Lakers. With Kobe’s amazing play night in and night out, and the addition of Pau Gasol, it seems as though Phil Jackson could be starting a new dynasty in Los Angeles. But isn’t a dynasty defined as a team that shows up not only in the regular season, but also in the playoffs? Isn’t a dynasty formed when a team wins a championship? Yes, the Lakers are still battling it out for the top seed in the West, but they seem to be guaranteed to make the playoffs. It’s what they do there that will determine whether Phil and Kobe have started a new dynasty. And Golden State proved to us last year that it really doesn’t matter what seed you get. So to be honest, J.A., these NBA storylines that you say are more important than tournament time aren’t really important at all…at least until April rolls around.

Adande makes the point that these upcoming NBA games are more important simply because of the difference in talent between the pro players and the college kids. This is quite an idiotic point for such a knowledgeable basketball writier. Of course the pros are better than college kids. They get paid millions to perform well every night. Yes, right now Tim Duncan is better than Michael Beasley. Deron Williams is better than Derrick Rose. And shouldn’t they be? Even a non-sports fan can notice a difference in the talent level between professional and college sports. Yes, maybe the most diehard of basketball fans, those who keep track of stats such as a players assist to turnover ratio, may want to watch the basketball where the players are better. For me, I would just rather watch an exciting game. True, J.A., neither Memphis nor Tennessee shot over 40 percent in their epic #1 vs. #2 battle a few weeks ago. The game was extremely exciting nonetheless to watch and to be honest I wasn’t really keeping track of either teams scoring percentage. I would rather watch two teams battling with intensity and passion for the top spot in the country than watching two teams try to keep their shooting percentage over 60 percent.

Adande follows up his point about the talent difference by saying that tournament games aren’t exciting anymore. J.A., where have you been the past few years? Yes, the games in the first round aren’t always as exciting as the games in the later rounds, but that is expected. An epic battle between a 1 and 16, or a 4 and 13, isn’t what college basketball fans are looking for in the first round. Nonetheless, the first round games never dissapoint. C-LO personally believes that the first round games are more exciting than the games in the later rounds. Let’s take a look at some examples. Last year’s Va Tech (5)-Illinois (12) game was a dandy, with Tech coming back from a 13 point deficit to win its first tournament game in 11 years 54-52. The year before that, George Washington (8) and UNC-Willmington (9) played one of the best games of the 2006 tournament, with GW coming back from an 18 point 2nd half deficit to win the game 88-85 in OT. That same year, Northwestern State (14) shocked Iowa (3) 64-63. The Demons had been down 17 with less than 9 minutes to play, but a fade away 3 pointer with .5 seconds left sent them flying into the second round. How about the 2006 thriller between BC (4) and Pacific (13) which went to two overtimes, with BC barely escaping 88-76? Or the epic battle between Tennessee (2) and Winthrop (15) in which Chris Lofton hit a fade away jumper with 0.4 seconds left to allow Tennessee to win 63-61 and barely escape falling to the Eagles. All those were first round games. And trust me, I could keep going.

No disrespect to the NBA, but this time of year belongs to college basketball. March Madness sweeps the nations, catching the attention of even non-basketball fans. People pack arenas across the country, from the Palace in Auburn Hills in Detroit to Cox Arena in San Diego to watch college kids battle to keep their seasons and sometimes careers alive. CBS sends out broadcasters all over the country to cover these games, broadcasting them to all of America and keeping the basketball going basically 24/7. And while the storylines of each game might not be as deep as the storyline of an important NBA game, they are still nonetheless extremely exciting and fun to watch. Yes, knowing Kobe is playing with a broken finger adds something to the game and shows how good of a player he is. It doesn’t make the game more exciting, though, which is what I am looking for this time of year. So, yes the X’s and O’s of basketball might not be at its best come tournament time, but the passion and heart that these young kids play with and the heart-stopping excitement that each game brings is why March Madness becomes such a phenomenon across the country this time of year. I am sure the March 21st Rockets-Warriors matchup will be great. But I don’t really care. I will be watching a 12 take down a 5, or a 13 push a 4 to its limits. Maybe I will be seeing a 1 run all over a 16, I don’t really care. March belongs to college basketball. And it always will.